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Philosophical writing is different from the writing you'll be asked to do in other courses.Most of the strategies described below will also serve you well when writing for other courses, but don't automatically assume that they all will. Nor should you assume thatevery writing guideline you've been given by other teachers is important when you'rewriting a philosophy paper. Some of those guidelines are routinely violated in good philosophical prose (e.g., see theguidelines on grammar , below).
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What Does One Do in a Philosophy Paper?
1.A philosophy paper consists of the reasoned defense of some claimYour paper must offer an argument. It can't consist in the mere report of your opinions, nor in a mere report of the opinions of the philosophers we discuss. Youhave to
defend
the claims you make. You have to offer reasons to believe them.So you can't just say:
My view is that P.
You must say something like:
My view is that P. I believe thisbecause...
or:
I find that the followingconsiderations...provide a convincingargument for P.
Similarly, don't just say:
Descartes says that Q.
Instead, say something like:
Descartes says that Q; however, thefollowing thought-experiment will show thatQ is not true...
or:
Descartes says that Q. I find this claimplausible, for the following reasons...
There are a variety of things a philosophy paper can aim to accomplish. It usually begins by putting some thesis or argument on the table for consideration. Then itgoes on to do one or two of the following:
o
Criticize that argument; or show that certain arguments for the thesis areno good
o
Defend the argument or thesis against someone else's criticism
o
Offer reasons to believe the thesis
o
Offer counter-examples to the thesis
o
Contrast the strengths and weaknesses of two opposing views about thethesis
o
Give examples which help explain the thesis, or which help to make thethesis more plausible
o
Argue that certain philosophers are committed to the thesis by their other views, though they do not come out and explicitly endorse the thesis
o
Discuss what consequences the thesis would have, if it were true
o
Revise the thesis, in the light of some objection No matter which of these aims you set for yourself,
you have to explicitlypresent reasons for the claims you make
. Students often feel that since it's clear to them that some claim is true, it does not need much argument. But it's very easyto overestimate the strength of your own position. After all, you already accept it.You should assume that your audience does
not
already accept your position; andyou should treat your paper as an attempt to persuade such an audience. Hence,don't start with assumptions which your opponents are sure to reject. If you're tohave any chance of persuading people, you have to start from commonassumptions you all agree to.
2.A good philosophy paper is
modest
and makes
a small point
; but it makes that point clearly and straightforwardly, and it offers good reasons in support of itPeople very often attempt to accomplish too much in a philosophy paper. Theusual result of this is a paper that's hard to read, and which is full of inadequatelydefended and poorly explained claims. So don't be over-ambitious. Don't try toestablish any earth-shattering conclusions in your 5-6 page paper. Done properly, philosophy moves at a slow pace.3.OriginalityThe aim of these papers is for you to show that you understand the material andthat you're able to think critically about it. To do this, your paper does have toshow some independent thinking.That doesn't mean you have to come up with your own theory, or that you have tomake a completely original contribution to human thought. There will be plentyof time for that later on. An ideal paper will be clear and straightforward (see
below), will be accurate when itattributes views to other philosophers(see below), and will contain thoughtful critical responses to the texts we read. It neednot always break completely new ground.But you should try to come up with your own arguments, or your own way of elaborating or criticizing or defending some argument we looked at in class.Merely summarizing what others have said won't be enough.
Three Stages of Writing
1. Early Stages
The early stages of writing a philosophy paper include everything you do
before
you sitdown and write your first draft. These early stages will involve
writing
, but you won't yet be trying to write a complete paper. You should instead be taking notes on the readings,sketching out your ideas, trying to explain the main argument you want to advance, andcomposing an outline.
Discuss the issues with others
As I said above, your papers are supposed to demonstrate that you understand and canthink critically about the material we discuss in class. One of the best ways to check howwell you understand that material is to try to explain it to someone who isn't alreadyfamiliar with it. I've discovered time and again while teaching philosophy that I couldn'treally explain properly some article or argument I thought I understood. This was becauseit was really more problematic or complicated than I had realized. You will have thissame experience. So it's good to discuss the issues we raise in class with each other, and
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